Paris

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March 20 - 25
Thursday March 20
On the train back to Paris, I was slightly nervous. I was going to be staying with Ollie, Sabine, Nicolas, and Louis, who I had never met before. Ollie had been my grandparent's foreign exchange student, and although I had heard about him, had never met him. However, I needn't have been nervous at all. They were a wonderful family. Ollie met me at the train station and brought me back to his office for a while before taking me back to his house. He worked at a cartoon studio that produces Tooteuf, a cartoon show for children. He told me that this was his last week at work and that he would be working as the director of a TV series beginning in April. While at the office, I learned a bit about what goes into making a cartoon. For example, it takes between 25 and 31 weeks to make one episode! That's crazy! They also send their stuff to an office in China, so not everything is done in Paris. After work, Ollie and I headed to his flat which is in a suburb of Paris, about a 10 minute train ride away. I then got to meet Sabine, Nicolas, and Louis. Language was a bit of a barrier for us, but Nicolas started teaching me French words almost right away - mostly body parts and objects in the living room - and I would then give him the English word. With a variety of signs and facial expressions, Nicolas and I communicated pretty well. Louis's favorite word with me was "Quoi?" What? And I would reply, "exactly, what?" But as he is only 3, we still were pretty good friends and he didn't seem to find not being able to understand me a problem.
Friday March 21
On Friday morning, Ollie and I dropped Nicolas off at school and Louis off at day care - yes there was school on Good Friday! - and then headed into Paris. Ollie had to work, but gave me a map and some ideas of what to see. My first stop was the Louvre and a half hour que to get in the museum and then a 20 minute queue to get a ticket. Then I was off to explore the artistic wonders that the museum held. The Mona Lisa was pretty cool - of course I was craning over about forty people to see it, but still. Its a good thing I am rather tall. After spending a good two and a half hours in The Louvre, I made me way towards the Champs-Elysees,lots of shopping ending in the Arc d'Triomphe. On the way up to the Arc, I bought my first of many crepes - with chocolate. I got to pull out my sunglasses at the Arc as it had cleared up and was a beautiful day. I didn't go up the Arc but worked on perfecting the self-portrait. I then meandered back down the Champs-Elysees and along the River Seine to Notre Dame. The church was so cool and the square around it was crowded. After snapping a ton of photos of the exterior, I joined the queue to go inside. I forgot that it was Good Friday, and entered the Cathedral, with about 300 other visitors, in the middle of the 3:00 service. Not so good; at least, I felt out of place, but they were still letting tourists in in droves and no one else seemed to have a problem with it. I made my way through as quickly and quietly as I could, and then went to take more pictures of the exterior. I then began to make my way to where I was going to meet Ollie. On the way, I stopped at one of the train stations to get my tickets to Rome. The lady said the trains were full. All of them. I was beginning not to like the Paris train system very much. In my head I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, how I was going to get Rome, when she said that I could get a train that went through Geneva. Relieved, I agreed, took my tickets and went to go meet Ollie. We enjoyed a quiet dinner - with wine, it seems that you drink wine with every meal, which I was not used to - and then I went to bed.
Saturday March 22
Saturday morning started out with little footsteps and Louis appearing in my room. After a leisurely morning and a trip to the grocery store, Ollie took me sight-seeing. First we went out for lunch at a nice little restaurant that has been around basically forever and served traditional dishes. I tried Chiken kidney, I think, and it was really good! I must admit, I was a bit nervous about it. After lunch, Ollie took me to visit the Opera. I don't know if I have ever seen a theater so lavishly decorated. Red and gold everywhere! There were definately enough places to hide a phantom in that building. And it had a library that housed only Operas - the music, the parts, all of it just operas. It was amazing! Then we made our way, through the rain, to the Galleries de Lafayette which is a huge shopping center with a domed roof and great views of Paris. Next, we went to the Montmartre area which was once home to artists of all kinds. Picasso once lived in this area. We wandered through and up the hill to Sacre Cur, a large church crowning the top of the hill in the Montmartre area and also offering great views of the city. Ollie told me that at one time, and still today, buildings in Paris were not allowed to be built above a certain height, with a few exceptions of course, which was why from almost any height in the city, you could see everything. We then made our way back down, dried out in a pub for a little bit, and then went back home. Nicolas was watching Transformers when we arrived, so we ate our dinner and watched the movie. It was in French, of course, but I managed to follow the story pretty well.
Sunday March 23
Easter Sunday once again began with Louis coming to wake me up. He was very excited about what the Bells had left him. In France, I guess, an Easter Bunny does not bring candy, but the Bells, which leave on Good Friday, return to the city early Easter morning and drop candy for the children to find. So as soon as everyone was up, the boys went hunting for their chocolate - one word that I understood without any trouble. After all of the chocolate had been found, the boys separated it into two different pile, or Nicolas did anyway - his and Louis'. Then of course they had to eat some. Louis managed to get his all over his face. Then Ollie, the boys, and I made a trip to the bakery for some cakes. In the early afternoon, Sabine's sister came over, and we had Easter dinner. It was a three course meal. One of the courses was oysters, which I enjoyed very much. After everything was cleaned up, we drove into Paris to go to the Eiffel Tower. The weather did not want to cooperate and so it was cold once again. We waited in line for quite a while to get into the tower and then in line some more to get up to the very top. It was very, very high. I didn't know it I was going to make it when we were taking the elevator up. The ground was getting further and further away very fast. But, it probably would have been worse if I would have had to climb the stairs. The view from the top was great, if it was a bit covered by clouds. We even felt a few snowflakes as we gazed over the city! By the time we made our way down, we were all tired and cold. As we were leaving, the Eiffel Tower was suddenly lit up and then lights started dancing all over it. It looked pretty cool. When we got back, we ate dinner and the boys went to bed. Then the four of us settled down to watch Cold Mountain, which is a long movie. It was after midnight when it finished and I was exhausted.
Monday March 24
On Monday, Ollie took me on my second walk around Paris. Once again, it decided to rain. We walked around Notre Dame and had some of the best ice cream ever. It may have been a bit cold for ice cream, but it was delicious. I had a mix of melon and white chocolate - amazing! We walked through the Bastille area and some of the older parts of the city. We found Victor Hugo's house, but it was closed. The Bastille itself is gone. The famous, or infamous, prison was totally destroyed and its stones were used to pave the area over the canal. All that is left is a pillar to mark where the prison once stood. Wet and cold, we made out way back to Ollie's and had a relaxing rest of the evening.
Tuesday March 25
On Tuesday, I said good-bye to Louis and Nicolas as we dropped them off at school and then good-bye to Sabine. I had so much fun with them and was very sad to leave. I then had some time to wander Paris before I had to catch my train to Rome. I went back to Notre Dame in hopes of climbing to the top, but the line was like two hours long, and I wanted to see some other stuff, so that will just have to wait until I can make my way back to Paris! I then walked through the Saint Michel area which has many discount book stores and is home to the University. After having my last crepes for lunch, I went to say good-bye to Ollie and then boarded my train for Rome via Geneva.

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Photos

St. George
St. George follows me to Paris.

Arc d'Triomphe
One section of detail

Notre Dame
Mary and the baby Christ

The Phantom
The Phantom's costume

Comments

[Mom]

Oh, My !!! The city is beautiful. I had pictures in my mind, but they pale. The boys are too cute! Maybe Dad and I will be with you on your return visit !?!

[Curtis]

Ollie and his family sound like a lot of fun, especially the little boys. You have a lot of cool pictures of France.